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HlSTOBICJL  LlNGOISTIC,  LlTMRY  JND  SCIENTIFIC 


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THE  SCANDINAVIAN  LANGUAGES; 

IhEIR    HlSTORICil,   LiHGUISTIC,  LiTEBiiRr   AHD   SCIENTIFIC 


ELUCIDATED  BY 


QUOTATIONS  FROM  EMINENT  AMERICAN,  ENGLISH, 
GERMAN  AND  FRENCH  SCHOLARS. 


NOTICKS  OK  TUESK  LANGUAGES  EY 


U.  W.  LONGFELLOW,  GEORGE  P.  MARSH,  SAMUEL  LAING, 

ROBERT  BUCHANAN,  SCHLEGEL,  MALLET 

AND  (JTHERS. 


eELECTED  AND  EDITED  WITH  A  FEW  NOTES 


BY  R.  B.  ANDERSON,  A.  M., 

INSTHL'CTOK  AT  THE  VXIVEKSITY  OF  WISCONSIN. 


MADISON,  WIS.: 

DEMOCRAT  COMPANY  TKINT,  MIFFIJN  ST. 
1873. 


'~mA 


To  Ole  j3ull, 


•WHO  WITU  HIH  CNKIVALED  MUSIC  UA3  CUEEUED  THE  nEAKTS  Ol' 

VILLIONS,  AND  BY  I[IS  GENIUS  AND  CONSTANT   DEV0T10>f 

TO  HIS  ART  HAS  DISTINGUISHED  HIMSELF  AND 

HONORED  NORWAY, 

THESH     PAGES     ARE     DEDICATED 

AS    A    HUMBLE    BUT    SINCEKE    ACKNOWLEDGEMENT    OK    THE     INTEREST 

HE  HAS  MANIFESTED  IN  MAKING   THE  STUDENTS  OF  THIS  COUNTBY 

ACQUAINTED   WITH   THE    HISTORY,   LANGUAGE    AND 

LITERATURE  OK  NORWAY  AND  ICELAND, 

ESPECIALLY  BY  PRESENTING  ON 

THE  ITtii  of  may,  187'2, 
^    ^ANDSOME    Norwegian    J^ibrary 

TO   THE   JJnIVERSITY   OF   y/'iSCONSIN. 

R.  B.  ANDERSON. 


WHAT  SCHOLARS  SAY  ABOUT 

THE 

Historical,  Linguistic  and  Literary  Value 

OK  THE 

SCANDINAVIAN  LANGUAGES. 

"  Der  er  (lagjja  paa  mast,  och  den  visar  ant  N'orr, 
Och  1  Norr  er  den  elskade  jord, 
Jag  vill  folja  de  himmelska  vindaraas  gaang, 
Jag  vill  styra  tilbaka  mot  Nord."  —Tigver. 

ENGLISH  VERSION. 

"  There's  the  flag  on  the  mast,  and  it  points  to  the  North, 
And  the  North  holds  the  land  that  I  love, 
I  will  steer  back  to  northward,  the  heavenly  course 
Of  the  winds,  guiding  sure  from  above." 

Very  little  atteution  has  hitherto  been  given  in  this  country  to  the 
study  of  Scandinavian  history,  languages  and  literatures.  We  think 
this  branch  of  study  would  not  be  so  much  neglected,  if  it  were  more 
generally  known,  what  an  extensive  source  of  intellectual  pleasure  it 
affords  to  the  scholar,  who  is  acquainted  with  it.  We  hope,  therefore, 
to  serve  a  good  cause  by  calling  3'our  attention  to  a  few  quotations 
from  American,  English,  German  and  French  scholars,  who  have  given 
much  time  and  attention  to  the  above  named  subjects,  in  order  that  it 
may  be  known,  what  they,  Avho  may  justly  be  considered  competent  to 
judge,  say  of  their  importance. 

I  will  add  that  I  have  not  found  a  scholar,  who  has  devoted  himself 
to  this  field  of  study  and  research,  that  has  not  at  tlie  same  time  become 
an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Scandinavian  and  particularly  Icelandic 
History,  Languages  and  Literatures. 

To  scientific  students  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
Scandinavian  languages  at  once  introduces  them  to  several  writers  of 
great  eminence  in  the  scientific  world.    I  will  briefly  mention  a  few:— 

H.\.NS  CuKiSTi.vN  Oersted  won  for  himself  one  of  the  greatest  names 
of  the  age.  His  discovery  in  1820  of  electro  magnetism — the  identity 
of  electricity  and  magnetism — which  he  not  only  discovered,  but  de- 
monstrated incontestibly,  placed  him  at  once  in  the  highest  rank  of 


6  ECANDINAVIAN   LANGUAGES. 

physical  philosopliers,  and  has  led  to  all  the  wonders  of  the  electric 
telegraph.  His  great  work,  "The  Soul  of  Nature,"  in  which  he  pro- 
mulgates his  grand  doctrine  of  the  universe,  abundantly  rejiays  a  care- 
ful perusal. 

Carl  von  Linne  (Linnseus)  is  the  polar  star  in  Botany.  He  was 
Professor  at  the  University  of  Sweden,  died  in  1788,  and  is  the  founder 
of  the  established  system  of  botany.  As  LinnjEUS  is  the  father  of 
botany,  so  Bekzelius  might  be  called  the  father  of  the  present  system 
of  chemistry.  He  is  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  science.  He 
devoted  his  whole  life  sedulously  to  the  promotion  and  extension  of  his 
favorite  science,  and  to  him  is  the  world  indebted  for  the  discovery  of 
many  new  elementary  principles  and  valuable  chemical  combinations 
now  in  general  use.  He  filled  the  chair  of  Chemistry  in  the  University 
of  Stockholm  for  forty-two  years,  and  died  in  1848.  Scheele,  Mi- 
chael Sars,  Hansteen,  and  several  others,  are  men  who  have  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  labors  in  the  field  of  science,  natural 
history  and  astronomy.  And  now  read  the  following  quotations,  which 
we  have  promised  to  present. 

Mr.  North  Ludlow  Beamish  says:  '-The  national  literature  of 
Iceland  holds  a  distinct  and  eminent  position  in  the  literature  of 
Europe.  In  that  remote  and  cheerless  isle  *  *  *  *  religion 
and  learning  took  up  their  tranquil  abode,  before  the  south  of  Europe 
had  yet  emerged  from  the  mental  darkness,  which  followed  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  There  the  unerring  memories  of  the  Skalds  and 
Sagamen  were  the  depositories  of  past  events,  which,  handed  down, 
from  age  to  age,  in  one  unbroken  line  of  historical  tradition,  were 
committed  to  writing  on  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and  now 
come  before  us  with  an  internal  evidence  of  their  truth,  which  places 
them  amongst  the  liighest  order  of  Idstorical  records.'''' 

"To  investigate  the  origin  of  this  remarkable  advancement  in  men- 
tal culture  and  trace  the  progressive  steps,  by  which  Icehmdic  literature 
attained  an  eminence  which  even  now  imparts  a  lustre  to  tliat  barren 
land  is  an  object  of  interesting  and  instructice  inquiry." 

"Among  no  other  people  of  Europe  can  the  conception  and  birth  of 
historical  literature  be  more  clearly  traced  than  amongst  the  people  of 
Iceland.  Here  it  can  l)e  shown  how  memory  took  root,  and  gave  birth 
to  narrative;  liow  narriitivc  multiplied  and  increased  until  it  was  coni- 
raitted  to  writing,  nnd  how  the  Avritten  relation  cventUiilly  became 
lifted  iuid  arraut'cd  in  chronolouical  order." 

Samuel  Laino,  Esq. — "All  that  men  hope  for  of  good  go%'erument 
Jind  future  improvement  in  their  physical  and  moral  condition — all 
that  civilized  men  enjoy  at  tliis  day  of  civil,  religious,  and  political 


SCANDINAVIAN    LANGUAGES.  7 

liberty — the  British  (^oiistitutiou,  rt'prc.seutalive  legislature,  the  trial  by 
jury,  security  of  property,  freedom  of  mind  and  person,  the  influence 
of  public  opinion  over  tlie  conduct  of  public  affairs,  the  Reformation, 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  the  spirit  of  the  aire, — all  llial  is  or  lias  been 
(:f  value  to  man  in  modern  times  as  a  member  of  society,  either  in 
Europe  or  in  America,  may  be  traced  to  the  spark  left  burning  upon 
our  shores  by  the  Norwegian  barbarians." 

"  There  seems  no  good  grounds  for  the  favorite  and  hackneyed  course 
of  all,  who  have  written  on  the  origin  of  the  British  constitution  and 
trial  by  jury,  who  unriddle  a  few  dark  phrases  of  Tacitus  concerning 
Wit  institutions  of  the  ancient  Germanic  tribes,  and  trace  up  to  that  ob- 
scure source  the  origin  of  all  political  institutions  connected  with 
freedom  in  modern  Europe.  In  tlie  (Norwegian)  Sagas  we  find,  at  a 
period  immediately  preceding  the  first  traces  of  free  institutions  in  our 
tiistory,  the  riule  but  very  vigorous  demonstrations  of  similar  institu- 
tions existing  in  great  activit}^  among  those  northern  people,  who  were 
Piasters  of  the  country  under  Canute  the  Great,  who  for  two  genera- 
tions before  his  time  had  occupied  and  inhabited  a  very  large  portion 
of  it,  and  of  whom  a  branch  under  William  of  Normandy  became  its 
ultimate  and  permanent  conquerors.  It  may  be  more  classical  to  search 
in  the  pages  of  Tacitus  for  allusions  to  the  customs  of  the  tribes  wan- 
dering in  his  day  through  the  forests  of  Germany,  which  may  bear 
some  faint  resemblance  to  modern  institutions,  or  to  wliat  we  fancy  our 
modern  institutions  may  have  been  in  their  infancy;  but  it  seems  more 
consistent  witli  correct  principles  of  historic  research  to  look  for  the 
origin  of  our  institutions  at  the  nearest,  not  at  the  most  remote,  source; 
not  at  wliat  existed  1,000  years  before  in  the  woods  of  Germany,  among 
people,  whom  we  must  believe  upon  supposition  to  have  been  the  an- 
cestors of  the  invaders  from  the  north  of  the  Elbe,  who  conquered 
England,  and  must  again  believe  upon  supposition,  that  when  this 
people  were  conquered  successively  by  the  Danes  and  Normans,  they 
imposed  their  own  peculiar  institutions  upon  their  conqueror.'?,  instead 
of  receiving  institutions  from  them ;  but  at  what  actually  existed,  when 
the  first  notice  of  assemblies  for  legislative  purpo.ses  can  bo  traced  in 
English  history  among  the  conquerors  of  tlie  country,  a  cognate  peo- 
ple, long  established  by  previous  conquests  in  a  large  portion  of  it, 
wlio  used,  if  not  the  same,  at  least  a  language  common  to  both,  and 
who  had  no  occasion  to  borrow  from  the  conquered,  institutions,  whicli 
were  flourishing  at  the  time  in  their  mother  country  in  much  greater 
vigor.  It  is  in  these  (Norwegian)  Sagas,  not  in  Tacitus,  that  we  have 
lo  look  for  the  origin  of  the  political  institutions  of  England.  The 
reference  of  all  matters  to  the  legislatire  assemblies  of  the  people,  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  facts  in  the  Sagas." 


S  SCANDINAVIAN   LANGUAGES. 

"The  Sagas,  although  composed  of  natives  of  Icehiud,  arc  properly 
Korire.diati  literature.  The  events,  persons,  manners,  language,  belong 
to  Nonpiy ;  and  they  are  productions,  which  like  the  works  of  Homer, 
■of  Shakespeare,  and  of  Scott,  are  strongly  stamped  witli  nationality  of 
'Character  and  incident." 

"A  portion  of  that  attention,  which  has  exhausted  classic  mythology, 
and  which  has  too  long  dwelt  in  the  Pantheons  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
and  is  wearied  with  fruitless  eftbrts  to  learn  something  more,  where, 
perhaps,  notliing  more  is  to  be  learnt,  may  very  profitably,  and  very 
successfully,  be  directed  to  the  vast  field  of  Gothic  research.  For  we 
are  Goths  and  the  descendants  of  Goths — 

'The  men, 

Of  earth's  best  blond,  of  titles  manifold." 

And  it  well  becomes  us  to  ask,  Avhal  has  Zeus  to  do  with  the  Erockeu, 
Apollo  with  Efiersberg,  or  Poseidon  with  the  Northern  Sea?  The 
gods  of  our  fathers  Avere  neither  Jupiter,  nor  Saturn,  nor  Mercury,  but 
Odin,  Bragc,  or  Eger.  If  we  marvel  at  the  pictures  of  heathen  divini- 
ties as  painted  by  classical  liands,  let  us  not  forget,  that  our  ancestors 
had  deities  of  their  own — gods  as  mighty  in  their  attributes,  as  refined 
in  their  tastes,  as  heroic  in  their  doings,  as  the  gods  worshiped  in  the 
Parthenon,  or  talked  about  in  the  forum." 

M.  Mallet  says:  "  History  has  not  recorded  the  annals  of  a  people, 
who  have  occasioned  greater,  more  sudden,  or  more  numerous  revolu- 
tions in  Europe  than  the  Scandinavians,  or  Avliose  antiquities,  at  the 
same  time,  are  so  little  known.  Had,  indeed,  their  emigrations  been 
only  like  those  sudden  torrents  of  which  all  traces  and  remembrance 
are  soon  effaced,  the  indifterence  that  has  been  shown  to  them,  would 
have  been  sufficiently  justified  by  the  barbarism,  they  have  been  ap- 
proached with.  But,  during  those  general  inundations,  the  face  of 
Europe  underwent  so  total  a  change,  and  during  the  confusion  they 
occasioned,  such  diflercnt  establishments  took  place;  new  societies 
were  formed,  animated  so  entirely  by  the  new  spirit,  that  the  historj'  of 
our  own  manners  and  institutions  ought  necessarily  to  ascend  back, 
and  even  dwell  a  considerable  time  upon  a  period,  wliich  discovers  to 
us  their  chief  origin  and  source. 

"But  I  ought  not  barely  to  assert  this.  Pcrniit  nie  to  support  the 
assertions  by  proof.  For  this  purpose,  let  us  l)riclly  run  over  all  the 
dillerent  revolutions,  which  this  part  of  the  world  underwent,  during 
the  long  course  of  ages  whicli  its  history  comprehends,  in  order  to 
ace  what  share  the  nations  of  the  north  have  had  in  producing  them. 
H  we  recur  back  to  the  remotest  times,  we  observe  a  nation  issuing 
step   I)}'  ste|)  fi'onv  the  forests  of  Scytliia,    inoessautly   increasing   and 


SCANDINAVIAN    LANCJUAGES.  9 

dividing  {n  take  possession  of  thf  uncultivated  countrios,  wiiich  it  met 
with  in  its  progress.  Very  soon  after,  we  see  the  same  people,  like  a 
tree  full  of  vigor,  extending  long  branches  over  all  Europe;  we  see 
them  also  carrying  with  tliem,  wherever  they  came,  from  tlie  borders 
of  the  Black  Sea  to  the  extremities  of  Spain,  of  Sicily,  and  of  Greece,  a 
religion  simple  and  martial  as  themselves,  a  form  of  government  dic- 
tated by  good  sense  and  lil)erty,  a  restless  unconquered  spirit,  apt  to 
take  fire  at  the  very  mention  of  subjection  and  constraint,  and  a  fero- 
cious courag<!  nourislied  Ijy  a  savage  and  vagabond  life.  While  the 
gentleness  of  the  climate  softened  imperceptibly  the  ferocity  of  those 
wlio  settled  in  the  south,  colonies  of  Egyptians  and  Phcenicians  mix- 
ing with  them  upon  the  coasts  of  Greece,  and  thence  passing  over  to 
those  of  Italj',  taught  them  at  last  to  live  in  cities,  to  cultivate  letters, 
arts  and  commerce.  Thus  their  opinions,  tlieir  customs  and  genius, 
were  blended  together,  and  new  states  were  formed  upon  new  plans. 
Home,  in  the  mean  time  arose,  and  at  length  carried  all  before  her.  In 
proportion  as  she  increased  in  grandeur,  she  forgot  her  ancient  man- 
ners, and  destroyed,  among  the  nations  whom  she  overpowered,  the 
original  spirit  with  which  thej^  were  animated.  But  this  spirit  contin- 
ued unaltered  in  the  colder  countries  of  Europe,  and  maintained  itself 
tiiere  like  the  independency  of  the  inhabitants.  Scarce  could  fifteen 
or  sixteen  centuries  produce  there  any  change  in  that  spirit.  There  it 
renewed  itself  incessantly ;  for,  during  the  whole  of  that  long  interval, 
new  adventurers  issuing  continually  from  the  original  inexhaustable 
country,  trod  upon  the  heels  of  their  fathers  towards  the  north,  and, 
being  in  their  turn  succeeded  by  new  troops  of  followers,  they  pushed 
one  another  forward,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  The  northern  coun- 
tries, thus  overstocked,  and  unable  any  longer  to  contain  such  restless 
inhabitants,  equally  greedy  of  glory  and  plunder,  discharged  at  length 
upon  the  Roman  Empire,  the  weight  that  oppressed  them.  The  bar- 
riers of  the  Empire,  ill  defended  by  a  people  whom  prosperity  had 
enervated,  were  borne  down  on  all  sides  by  torrents  of  victorious 
armies.  We  then  sec  the  conquerors  introducing,  among  the  nations 
they  vanquished,  viz.,  into  the  very  bosom  of  slavery  and  sloth,  that 
spirit  of  independence,  and  equality,  that  elevation  of  soul,  that  taste 
for  rural  and  military  life,  which  both  the  one  and  the  other  had  origi- 
nally derived  from  the  same  common  source,  but  which  were  then 
among  the  Romans  breathing  their  last.  Dispositions  and  principles 
so  opposite,  struggled  long  with  forces  sufflcicntly  equal,  but  they 
united  in  the  end,  they  coalesced  together,  and  from  their  coalition 
sprung  those  principles  and  that  spirit  which  governed  afterwards, 
almost  all  the  states  of  Europe,  and  which,  notwithstanding  the  differ- 
ences of  climate,  of  religion,  and  particular  accidents,  do  visibly  reign 
in  them,  and  retain,  to  this  day.  more  or  less,  the  traces  of  their  first 
common  origin. 


10  SCANDINAVIAN    LANGUAGES. 

"  It  is  easy  to  sec,  from  this  short  sketch,  how  great]}'  the  iiu'ioiis  of 
the  eartli  have  influenced  the  different  fates  of  Europe ;  and  if  it  be 
worth  while  to  trace  its  revolutions  to  their  causes,  if  the  illustration 
of  its  institutions,  of  its  police,  of  its  customs,  of  its  manners,  of  its 
laws,  be  a  subject  of  useful  and  interesting  inquiry' ;  it  must  be  allowed, 
that  the  anti(iuitics  of  the  nortlL,  that  is  to  say,  everything  which  tends 
to  make  us  acquainted  with  its  ancient  inhabitants,  merits  a  share  iu 
the  attention  of  thinking  men.  But  to  render  this  obvious  by  a  partic" 
ular  example :  is  it  not  well  known  that  the  most  flourishing  and  cele- 
brated states  of  Europe  owe  originally  to  the  northern  nations  whatever 
liberty  they  now  enjoy,  either  in  their  constitution,  or  in  the  spirit  of 
their  government?  For  although  the  Gothic  form  of  government  has 
been  almost  everywhere  altered  or  abolished,  have  we  not  retained,  in 
most  things,  the  opinions,  the  customs,  the  manners  which  that  govern- 
ment had  a  tendency  to  produce?  Is  not  this,  in  fact,  the  principle 
source  of  that  courage,  of  that  aversion  to  slaver}^,  of  that  empire  of 
honor  which  characterized  in  general  the  European  nations;  and  of 
that  moderation,  of  that  easiness  of  access,  and  peculiar  attention  to 
the  rights  of  humanity,  which  so  happily  distinguish  our  sovereigns 
from  the  inaccessible  and  superb  tyrants  of  Asia?  The  immense  ex- 
tent of  the  Roman  Empire  had  rendered  its  constitution  so  despotic 
and  military,  many  of  its  Emperors  were  such  ferocious  monsters,  its 
senate  was  become  so  mean  spirited  and  vile,  that  all  elevation  of  sen- 
timent, everything  that  was  noble  and  manly,  seems  to  have  been  for- 
ever vanished  from  their  hearts  and  minds;  insomuch  that  if  all 
Europe  had  received  the  yoke  of  Rome  in  this  her  state  of  debasement, 
this  fine  part  of  the  world  reduced  to  the  inglorious  condition  of  the 
rest  could  not  have  avoided  falling  into  that  kind  of  barbarity,  which 
is  of  all  others  the  most  incurable;  as,  by  making  as  many  slaves  as 
there  are  men,  it  degrades  them  so  low  as  not  to  leave  them  even  a 
thought  or  desire  of  bettering  their  condition.  JJut  nature  had  long 
jirepared  a  remedy  for  such  great  evils,  in  that  unsubmitting,  uncou- 
(lucrable  spirit,  with  which  she  liad  inspired  the  people  of  the  north; 
and  thus  she  made  amends  to  the  human  race,  for  all  the  calamities 
which,  in  other  respects,  the  inroads  of  these  nations,  and  the  over- 
throw of  the  Roman  Empire  produced. 

"'I'he  great  prerogative  of  Scandinavia  (says  the  admirable  author  of 
tlie  Sjjirit  of  Laws),  and  what  ought  to  recommend  its  inabitauts  be- 
yond every  people  ui)on  earth,  is,  that  they  aflbrded  the  great  resource 
to  the  liberty  of  Europe,  that  is,  to  almost  all  the  liberty  that  is  among 
men.  The  Goth  Jornande,  adds  he,  calls  the  north  of  Europe  the  forge 
of  mankind.  I  should  rather  call  it  the  forge  of  those  instruments 
which  broke  the  fetters  manufactured  in  the  south.  It  was  there  those 
valiant  nations  were  bred,  who  left  their  native  climes  to  destroy  ly 


SCANDINAVIAN   LANGUAGES.  11 

rants  aud  slaves;,  and  so  lo  tfucli  nun  ihal  ii:i.tiuc  huviiiu-  made  llu-in 
equal,  uo  reason  could  be  assigned  lor  lln-ir  lii'coiniiiL';  dcpciidcnl,  but 
Ihc'ir  mutual  happiness." 

U.  W.  IjONGpellow  is  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  tlie  Scaiulinavian 
languages.  Of  the  Icelandic  he  says:  "  The  Icelandic  is  as  remarka- 
ble as  the  Anglo-Saxon  for  its  abruptness,  its  obscurity  and  the  bold- 
ness of  its  metai)hors.  Poets  are  called  Songsmitiis; — poetry,  the 
Language  of  the  Gods, — gold,  the  Daylight  of  Dwarfs;  the  heavens,  the 
Scull  of  Ymer;  the  rainbow,  the  Bridge  of  tiie  Gods; — a  ))attle,  a  Bath 
of  Blood,  the  Hail  of  Odin,  the  Meeting  of  Shields; — the  tongue,  the 
Sword  of  Words  ; — river,  the  Sweat  of  Earth,  the  Blood  of  the  Valleys ; — 
arrows,  the  Daugiiters  of  Misfortune,  the  Hailstones  of  Helmets; — the 
earth,  the  Vessel  that  lloats  on  the  Ages: — the  sea,  the  Field  of  Pirates; 
— a  ship,  the  Skate  of  Pirates,  the  Horse  of  the  Waves.  The  ancient 
Ski'ild  (Bard)  smote  the  strings  of  his  harp  with  as  bold  a  hand  as  the 
Berserk  smote  his  foe.  When  heroes  fell  in  battle  he  sang  to  them  in 
his  Drapa,  or  death-song,  that  they  had  gone  to  drink  "divine  mead  in 
the  secure  and  tranquil  palaces  of  the  gods"  in  that  Valhalla  upon 
whose  walls  stood  the  watchman,  lleimdal,  whose  ear  was  so  acute, 
that  lie  could  hear  the  grass  grow  in  the  meadows  of  earth,  and  the 
wool  on  the  backs  of  sheep,  lie  lived  in  a  credulous  age;  in  the  dim 
twilight  of  the  past.     He  was 

'•Tlie  sky-lark  in  the  ditv.u  of  rean*, 
The  poet  of  tlie  morn." 

In  the  vast  solitudes  around  him,  the  heart  of  Nature  beat  against  his 
own.  From  the  midnight  gloom  of  groves,  the  deep-voiced  pines  an- 
swered the  deeper-voiced  and  neighboring  sea.  To  his  ear,  these  were 
not  the  voices  of  dead,  but  of  living  things.  Demons  rode  the  ocean 
like  a  weary  steed,  and  the  gigantic  pines  flapped  their  sounding 
wings  to  smite  the  spirit  of  the  storm. 

"  Still  wilder  and  fiercer  were  these  influences  of  Nature  in  desolate 
Iceland,  than  on  the  mainland  of  Scandinavia.  Fields  of  lava,  ice- 
bergs, gej'sers,  and  volcanoes  v.ere  familiar  sights.  When  the  long 
■winter  came,  and  the  snoAvy  Ileckla  roared  through  the  sunless  air, 
and  the  flames  of  the  Northern  Aurora  flashed  along  the  sky,  like 
phantoms  from  Valhalla,  the  soul  of  the  poet  was  filled  with  images 
of  terror  and  dismay.  lie  bewailed  the  death  of  Baldur,  the  sun;  and 
saw  in  each  eclipse  the  horrid  form  of  the  wolf,  Managamer.  who  swal- 
lowed the  moon  and  stained  the  sky  with  blood." 

Benjamin  Lossing  says:  "It  is  back  to  the  Norwegian  Vikings  we 
mtist  look  for  the  hardiest  elements  of  progress  in  the  United  States." 


12  SCANDINAVIAN   LANGUAGES. 

13.  F.  De  C'o.sta. — "  Let  us  remember  that  in  vindicating  the  North- 
men we  honor  tliose  who  not  only  give  us  the  first  knowledge  possessed 
of  the  American  continent,  but  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  much 
beside  that  we  esteem  valuable.  For  we  fable  in  a  great  measure  when 
we  speak  of  our  Saxon  inheritance.  It  is  rather  from  the  Northmen 
that  we  have  derived  our  vital  energy,  our  freedom  of  thought  and  in 
a  measure  that  we  do  not  yet  suspect  our  strengtli  of  speech.  Yet, 
happily,  the  people  are  fast  becoming  conscious  of  their  indebtedness ; 
so  that  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  the 
Northmen  may  be  recognized  in  their  right,  social,  political  and  liter- 
ary characters,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  navigators  assume  their  true 
position  in  the  Pre-Columbian  Discovery  of  America." 

"  The  twelfth  century  was  an  era  of  great  literary  activity  in  Iceland, 
and  the  century  following  showed  the  same  zeal.  Finally  Iceland 
possessed  a  body  of  prose  literature  superior  in  quantity  and  value  to 
that  of  any  other  modern  nation  of  its  time.  Indeed  the  natives  of 
Europe  at  this  period  had  no  prose  literature  in  any  modern  language 
spoken  by  tlie  people." 

"Yet  while  other  nations  were  without  a  literature,  the  intellect  of 
Iceland  was  in  active  exercise,  and  works  were  produced  like  the 
Eddas  and  Heimskringla,  works  which  being  inspired  by  a  lofty 
genius  will  rank  with  the  writings  of  Homer  and  Herodotus  while 
time  itself  endures." 

Says  Sir  Edmund  Head,  in  regard  to  the  Norwegian  Literature  of 
the  ticelfth  century :  "  No  doubt  there  were  translations  in  Anglo-Saxon 
from  the  Latin,  by  Alfred,  of  an  earlier  date,  but  there  was  in  truth  no 
vernacular  literature.  I  cannot  name,"  he  says,  "  any  work  in  high  or 
low  German  prose,  which  can  be  carried  back  to  this  period.  In  France, 
prose  writing  cannot  be  said  to  have  begun  before  the  time  of  Ville- 
hardouin  (1204)  and  Joinville  (1202),  Castilian  prose  certainly  did  not 
begin  before  the  time  of  Alfonso  X,  (1253),  Don  Juan  Manvel,  the  au- 
thor of  Conde  Lucanor,  was  not  born  till  1282.  The  Cronica  General  de 
Espana  was  not  composed  till  at  least  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. About  the  same  time  the  language  of  Italy  was  acquiring  that 
softness  and  strength,  wliich  Avere  destined  to  appear  so  conspicuously 
in  the  prose  of  Boccaccio  and  the  writers  of  the  next  century. 

"  Of  course  there  was  more  or  less  poetry,  yet  poetry  is  something 
that  i.s  early  developed  among  the  rudest  nations,  while  good  iiros^ 
t(;lls  that  a  jk'oijIc  liavc  Ijecome  liighly  advanced  in  mental  culture." 

WiujAM  and  Mauy  Howitt. — "Tlicrc  is  nothing  besides  the  Bible, 
wliicli   sits   ill   a  divine  tianquilil y  of  uiiai)i)r<)achablc  nobility,  like  3' 


SCANDINAVAIN   LANGUAGES.  13 

King  of  Kings  iimongst  all  otlicr  ))()oks,  unci  tiie  poem  ol'  Ilouicr  itself, 
'.vhioli  can  compare  in  all  the  eloment-s  of  greatness  with  tlie  Eddu. 
There  is  a  loftiness  of  stature,  and  a  growth  of  muscle  about  it  which 
no  poets  of  the  same  race  have  ever  since  reached.  The  obscurity 
which  hangs  over  some  parts  of  it,  like  the  deep  sliadows  crouching 
mid  the  ruins  of  the  past,  is  probably  the  result  of  delapidations;  but 
amid  this  stand  forth  the  boldest  masses  of  intellectual  masonry.  We 
livv  Hstonislu'd  at  the  wisdom  which  is  shaped  into  ma.tims,  and  at  the 
lempi'stuous  strength  of  passions  to  which  all  modern  emotions  appear 
puny  and  constrained.  Amid  the  bright  sun-light  of  ti  far-oft"  time, 
surrounded  by  the  densest  shadows  of  forgotten  ages,  we  come  at  once 
into  the  midst  of  gods  and  heroes,  godesses  and  fair  women,  giants  and 
dwarfs,  moving  about  in  a  world  of  wonderful  construction,  unlike 
any  other  worlds  or  creations  which  God  has  founded  or  man  has  im- 
agined, but  still  beautiful  beyond  conception. 

The  Icelandip  poems  have  no  parallel  in  all  the  treasures  of  ancient 
literature.  They  are  the  expressions  of  the  souls  of  poets  existing  in 
the  primaeval  and  unefFeminated  earth.  They  are  limnings  of  men 
and  women  of  godlike  beauty  and  endowments,  full  of  the  vigor  of 
simple,  but  impetuous  natures.  There  are  gigantic  proportions  about 
them.  Tliere  are  great  and  overwhelming  tragedies  in  them,  to  which 
those  of  Greece  only  present  any  parallels. 

"  The  Edda  is  a  structure  of  that  grandeur  and  importance,  that  it 
■  deserves  to  be  far  better  known  to  us  generally,  than  it  is.  The  spirit 
in  it  is  sublime  and  colossal." 


Pi.iNY  ^IiLES. — "The  literary  hi.story  of  Iceland  in  the  early  ages  of 
tlie  Kepublic,  is  of  a  most  interesting  character.  When  we  consider 
tlie  limited  population  of  the  country,  and  the  many  disadvantages 
under  which  they  labored,  tlieir  literature  is  tJte  mod  remarkable  on  record. 
The  old  Icelanders,  from  the  tenth  to  the  sixteenth  century,  through  a 
period  of  the  history  of  the  world,  when  little  intellectual  light  beamed 
from  the  surrounding  nations,  were  as  devoted  and  ardent  workers  in 
the  fields  of  history  and  poetry  as  any  community  in  the  world  under 
tlie  most  favorable  circumstances.  Springing  from  the  old  Norse  or 
Norwegian  stock,  they  carried  the  language  and  habits  of  their  ances- 
tors with  them  to  their  island  home.  Though  a  very  large  number  of 
inir  English  words  arc  derived  direct  from  the  Icelandic,  yet  the  most 
learned  and  indefatigable  of  our  lexicographers,  both  in  England  and 
America,  have  acknoAvledged  their  ignorance  of  tliis  language. 

"The  Eddas  abound  in  mythological  machinery  tp  an  extent  quite 
equal  to  tlie  writings  of  Homer  and  Virgil.'' 


14  SCANDINAVIAN    LANGUAGES. 

The  learned  German  writer  Schlegel,  in  his  '•Esthetics  and  Miscel- 
kmeou^  Works,"  says :  "  If  any  monument  of  the  primitive  northern 
-world  deserves  a  place  amongst  the  earlier  remains  of  the  south,  the 
Icelandic  Edda  must  be  deemed  worthy  of  that  distinction.  The  spir- 
itual veneration  for  nature,  to  which  the  sensual  Cxreek  was  an  entire 
stranger,  gushes  forth  in  the  mysterious  language  and  prophetic  tradi- 
tions of  the  Northern  Edda  with  a  full  tide  of  enthusiasm  and  inspira- 
tion sufficient  to  endure  for  centuries,  and  to  supply  a  whole  race  of 
future  bards  and  poets  with  a  precious  and  animating  elixir.  The 
vivid  delineations,  the  rich  glov.iug  abundance  and  animation  of  the 
Homeric  pictures  of  the  world,  are  not  more  decidedly  superior  to  the 
misty  scenes  and  shadowy  forms  of  Ossiau,  tha7i  the  Northern  Edda  is 
in  its  sublimity,  to  the  works  of  Hesiod." 

Prof.  Dk.  Dietkicii  asserts  "that  the  Scandinavian  literature  is  ex- 
traordinarily rich  in  all  kinds  of  writings." 

Hon.  George  P.  Marsh. — "  It  must  suffice  to  remark,  that  in  the 
opinion  of  those  most  competent  to  judge,  the  Icelandic  literature  has 
never  been  surpassed,  if  equalled,  in  all  that  gives  value  to  that  portion 
of  history  which  consists  of  spirited  delineations  of  character  and 
faithful  and  lively  pictures  of  events  among  nations  in  a  rude  state  of 
society." 

"  That  tlie  study  of  the  Old-Northern  tongue  may  have  an  important 
bearing  on  English  grammar  and  etymology,  will  be  obvious,  when  it 
is  known  that  the  Icelandic  is  most  closely  allied  to  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
of  which  so  fev,' monuments  are  extant;  and  a  slight  examination  of 
its  structure  and  remarkable  syntactical  character,  will  satisfy  the 
reader,  tliat  it  may  well  deserve  the  attention  of  the  philologist." 

KoBERT  Bucu.VNAN,  the  eraincut  English  writer,  in  reviewing  the 
modern  Scandinavian  literature,  says :  "  While  German  literature  dark- 
ens under  the  malignant  star  of  Deutschthum,  while  French  art  sick- 
ening of  its  long  disease  crawls  like  a  Leper  through  the  light  and 
Avholesome  world,  while  all  over  the  European  continent  one  wan  in- 
fluence or  another  asserts  its  despair-engendering  sway  over  books 
and  men,  whither  shall  a  bewildered  student  fly  for  one  deep  breath  of 
pure  air  and  wholesome  ozone?  Goethe  and  Heine  have  sung  their 
best — and  worst,  Alfred  de  Musset  is  dead,  and  Victor  Hugo  is  turned 
politician.  Grillparzer  is  still  a  mystery,  tlianks  partly  to  the  darken- 
ing medium  of  Carlyle's  hostile  criticism.  From  the  ashes  of  Teutonic 
transcendentalism  rises  Wagner  like  a  Phoenix, — a  bird  too  uncommon 
for  ordinary  comprehension,  but  to  all  intents  and  purposes  an  anomaly 


SCANDINAVIAN    LANi^.UAGE.'.  15 

:it  hot.  One  liro.i  of  iiiiomalic.s,  one  .'•iokciis  of  polilios,  one  shudders 
at  tlic  petticoat  literature  first  created  at  AVeimar;  and  looking  east  and 
west,  rangina;  Avitli  a  true  invalid's  hunger  the  literary  liorizon,  one 
searches  for  something  more  natural,  for  some  form  of  indigenous 
and  unadorned  loveliness,  wherewith  to  fleet  the  time  pleasantly,  as 
they  did  in  the  golden  world." 

"  That  something  may  be  found  v.ilhout  traveling  very  far.  Turn 
northward,  in  the  footsteps  of  Teuftdsdroehk,  traversing  the  great 
valleys  of  Scandinavia,  and  not  lialting  until,  like  llic  piiilosopher, 
vou  look  upon  '  that  slowly  heaving  Polar  Ocean,  over  which  in  the 
utmost  north  the  great  sun  hangs  low.'  (>uiet  and  peaceful  lies  Norway 
yet  as  in  the  world's  morning.  The  Hocks  of  summer  tourists  alight 
upon  her  shores,  and  scatter  themselves  to  their  numljerless  stations, 
without  disturl)ing  the  peaceful  serenity  of  her  social  life.  *  *  * 
The  government  is  a  virtual  democracy,  such  as  would  gladden  the 
lieart  of  Gambetta,  the  Swedish  monarch's  rule  over  Norway  being 
merely  titular.  There  are  no  hereditary  nobles.  There  is  no  'gag'  on 
the  press.  Science  and  poetry  alike  flourish  on  thi.5  free  soil.  The 
science  is  grand  as  Nature  herself,  cosmic  as  well  as  jnicroscopic.  The 
poetry  is  fresh,  light,  and  pellucid,  worthy  of  the  race  and  altogether 
free  from  Parisian  taint." 

BjOiiNSTJERKE  Bjornson,"''=  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  living  Nor- 
wegian authors,  is  something  more  than  even  the  finest  pastoral  tale- 
teller of  this  generation.  He  is  a  dramatist  of  extraordinary  power. 
He  does  not  possess  the  power  of  imaginative  fancy  shown  by  Werge- 
hmd**  (in  such  pieces  as  Jan  ean  IIuysumH  Blomsler-'^tijkke)  nor  "W'elha- 
vcn'sf  refinement  of  phrase,  nor  the  wild  melodious  abandon  of  his 
greatest  rival,  the  author  of  Peer  Gyut;X  but  to  my  thinking,  at  least, 
he  stands  as  a  poet  in  a  far  higher  rank  than  any  of  these  writers. 

In  more  than  one  respect,  particularly  in  the  loose,  disjointed  struc- 
ture of  the  piece,  ''Sigurd  Slemhc,'"  reminds  one  of  Goethe's  "f/o(?<3," 
but  it  deals  with  materials  far  hardc-r  to  a.>simihite,  and  is  on  the  whole 

*Bjornstjernk  Bjornson  was  born  in  18:33,  has  written  several  novels,  dramas, 
iind  epic  poemti.  "Sigurd  Slembe"  \i  u  drama,  publi.shed  in  186',i,  of  whicU  Robert 
Ouchiinan  say.s  "  It  is,  besides  being  a  masterpiece  by  its  author,  a  drama  of  which 
any  living  European  author  might  be  justly  proud."  Several  of  his  novels,  including 
"Arne,"  "A  Happy  Boy,"  "The  Fishermaiden,"  have  been  translated  into  English. 

**  HKNIRK  .\KN0Li)  WEP.CKL.VND  was  bom  iu  18C8  and  died  in  1845.  He  is  the  Jhjron 
01"  the  North,    llis  work  comprise  nine  ponderou.s  volumes.    He  excelled  in  lyrics. 

+  JOHN  SEB.VSTI.VN  Wkiji.vvfn,  born  in  1807,  still  living.  Remarkable  for  the  ele- 
gance and  chastene:<s  of  his  style.  No  poet  has  more  beautifully  and  correctly  de- 
.joribed  the  natural  scenery  of  Norway. 

.{The  author  of  "  Peer  Gynt"  is  HKNBIK  IBSE.V,  born  in  1828.  Was  engaged  by  Ole 
Bull  as  instructor  at  the  theatre  in  Bergen,  which  position  he  occupied  six  years.  He 
has  written  several  dramatic  works,  chiefly  of  a  polemic  and  exceedingly  satirical 
nature.    Many  of  his  countrymen  preler  Ibsen  to  Bjornson. 


16  SCANDINAVIAN    LANGUAGES. 

a  finer  picture  of  romantic  manners.  Audliild  (a  prominent  character 
in  "'Sigurd  Skmhe,'''')  is  a  creation  worlliy  of  Goethe  at  his  best;  worthy, 
in  my  opinion,  to  rank  witli  Cla?rchen,  Marguerite,  and  Mignon,  as  a 
master-piece  of  delicate  cliaracterization.  And  here  I  may  observe, 
incidentally,  that  Bjornson  excels  in  his  pictures  of  delicate  feminine 
types, — a  proof,  if  proof  were  wanting,  that  he  is  worthy  to  take  rank 
with  the  highest  class  of  poetic  creators." 

1  might  add  to  tlie  above  quotations  from  Max  Muller,  the  brothers 
Grimm  and  many  other  eminent  writers,  but  in  the  first  place  this  ar- 
ticle is  long  enough,  and  in  the  next  place  the  works  of  the  last  named 
authors  are  accessible  to  all,  who  may  wish  to  investigate  this  subject 
further.  My  object  has  been  to  show,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  those 
who  have  studied  the  subject,  the  North  has  a  history,  language,  and 
literature  deserving  and  amply  rewarding  some  attention  from  Amer- 
ican students.  Of  the  good  or  ill  performance  of  this  task  the  reader, 
whom  I  earnestly  request  carefully  to  consider  tlie  contents  of  these 
pages,  must  be  the  judge. 


."<• 


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^no^wii 


NEWARK,  NJ.  •  WiaiAWSPORT,  PA. 

LOS  wiaacs.  CU.IF. 

BRANTfCRO,  CNT. 
HASeiN  US.iL 


